In response to the crisis in Ukraine, we are distributing grants from our Disaster Relief Fund to mission-aligned groups helping people and animals in Ukraine and surrounding regions.
Current groups include Lviv Vegan Kitchen, Vegan Kitchen Ukraine (a project of Ukrainian animal rights group Every Animal), Shelter Ugolyok (a vegan animal sanctuary), and the Polish chapter of Food Not Bombs, which is providing plant-based food to refugees who have fled to Poland. We are also assisting Seed Programs International, who are distributing seed kits to refugees for kitchen and community food gardens.
In order to provide more support, we’ve set up a special Ukraine Relief Fund in order to be able to assist other groups in need and/or increase funding to current grantees as the crisis continues to unfold. You can help by donating and sharing!
As always, we send 100% of all donations to the groups doing the direct, on-the-ground work.
Vegan Kitchen Ukraine
Vegan Kitchen Ukraine is an initiative of Every Animal, a Ukrainian animal rights group devoted to grassroots vegan advocacy, education, and animal rescue. Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, their volunteers organized a kitchen hub preparing free plant-based meals for people in need. They have also sent 1,000+ food parcels to vegan soldiers, and are helping animal refugees through rehoming, purchasing and distributing food, and transporting animals to safety.
So far they have prepared and distributed 50,000+ free plant-based meals in 10 cities. Now they need an additional $2,000 per month in order to create and supply two meal distribution centers in the city of Dnipro, which is close to the frontlines where people urgently need assistance. They will be serving an additional 2,400 free meals per month in Dnipro alone.
Lviv Vegan Kitchen
Soon after Russia invaded, a few members of Vegan Ukraine quit their jobs to open a full-time vegan meal distribution center called Lviv Vegan Kitchen (LVK), as reported by The Independent.
At first they worked out of a small vegan restaurant, but demand from refugees saw lines out the door, with more than 200 meals being distributed daily. Fortunately, they were able to relocate to a larger facility and increase their distribution, now providing hundreds of free vegan meals daily.
Shelter Ugolyok
Shelter Ugolyok is a non-profit vegan animal rescue with three sanctuary properties operating across Ukraine. They rescue and provide shelter to hundreds of farmed and companion animals. Since the invasion, they have not only continued to feed and care for their animals, including feed transport in dangerous conditions, but they have also continued rescuing new farmed animals as well as animals left behind by fleeing refugees. They are also providing food to people in need in their communities.
Food Not Bombs
Volunteer Food Not Bombs chapters in Poland have been fighting food waste and hunger for decades by preparing free, hot plant-based meals for those in need, cooking with vegetables salvaged from markets and growers that were otherwise destined for the garbage. They have continued their free food distribution throughout the pandemic, and since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have ramped up efforts to provide meals, clothes, and hygiene products to Ukrainian refugees. FNB volunteers set up cooking stands along the Poland-Ukraine border, cooking soups and other warm meals from morning to night, and distribute these along with water, hygiene supplies, clothing, and other items to refugees entering the country. Chapters also organize weekly meal distribution in their respective cities, and demand has greatly increased with the influx of Ukrainian refugees. Food and hygiene parcels prepared by Polish FNB chapters are also delivered to refugee centers around the country.
